Listen to How Awesome Yamaha's Hybrid Prototype Motorcycle Sounds

Looks like 'revs your heart' isn't just a tagline.

Photo by: Yamaha

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Apr 17, at 7:17am ET

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As a person who's ridden and enjoyed both gas and electric motorcycles, the way I see it, there are clearly good and bad points about pure EV motorcycles. One thing I can tell you for certain is that instant torque is fun as heck, and can quickly become addicting if you spend time with it. Having access to all that power at the twist of a wrist is nothing short of intoxicating.

But if you need to hop on highways regularly, with current battery density and motorcycle packaging constraints combined, your available range will quickly nosedive. City and low-speed commuting is an absolute dream, though. The sound is, of course, quite different, but if you hit a cool light speeder note, it's just a different kind of fun than you might be used to from a combustion bike. The ability to have easy conversations without shouting when you're at a stoplight is also undeniably nice.

What if you could have both, though? That's a question first asked by Kawasaki with its Ninja 7 and Z7 HEVs. And more recently, Yamaha's been working on its own PHEV prototype, with a compact motor designed specifically with big bike functionality in mind. Emphasis, Yamaha says, on the 'fun' in 'functionality.'

After all, Yamaha (rightly) reasons, what good is a big bike if you aren't having fun on it? Isn't that why anyone rides things beyond simple commuters? Maybe you need to commute because you need to go to school or work, but you want to do it on a bike because you also want to have fun along the way. And fun in your free time.

Yamaha's PHEV prototype is designed to help you do both, says the firm. I can't offer an opinion from experience, as I haven't ridden it at this point. What I can tell you, though, is that if this video is anything to go by, it sounds pretty great.

The video is in Japanese, but even if you don't speak or understand the language, you'll still get the clearest look at Yamaha's PHEV prototype in action that the company has made public so far. Including the way the demonstrator sounds while their test rider is taking it out on a run. It sounds strong! Growly! In short, it sounds like FUN.

There's a computer animated portion that illustrates the footprint of the hybrid gasoline and electric motor unit inside, and how Yamaha wanted to make it as compact and standard-sized as possible. The overall look of the PHEV prototype is a bit Transformer-y, but considering what Yamaha's design language (particularly on the MT lineup) has been for a while now, it really fits right in.

Technical details are still not available yet, but for many people, how a motorcycle sounds can often make or break your impressions of it. For some, that's part of why electric motorcycles can sometimes be offputting. The Yamaha PHEV prototype, on the other hand, sounds like a bike to make you forget what pure EVs sound like, because it's something else entirely.

It's clearly developing at a fast pace, although without seeing any benchmarks, it's difficult to form a full impression of what Team Blue has achieved so far at this time. Still, color us intrigued, and I certainly look forward to riding one once they're available. What about you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.